


Second Miracle

by Aeremaee



Series: Star Wars Stories [1]
Category: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Bodhi Rook Needs a Hug, Canon-Typical Violence, Everybody Lives, Found Family, M/M, Space Dad Baze Malbus
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-29
Updated: 2017-09-29
Packaged: 2019-01-06 20:41:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,941
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12218574
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aeremaee/pseuds/Aeremaee
Summary: “You have quite a few plans for our future, I think,” Chirrut said. “Some cottage in a forest somewhere, with a tiny room for everyone and a giant kitchen and the bare minimum of tech.”





	Second Miracle

**Author's Note:**

  * For [cognomen](https://archiveofourown.org/users/cognomen/gifts).



> Written for @shawarma-palace in the Jedifest Summer Exchange, in response to the promt 'Baze/Chirrut, AU where they survive'. I hope this was somewhat what you were hoping for! <3

“Here,” Baze said.

Bodhi barely registered the mug thrust in his direction. He stared out into the void of space and blinked slowly.

Baze knelt down in front of him and gently folded the young man’s hands around the porcelain, making sure he held the weight.

“Perhaps you should try something cold, to snap him out of it,” Chirrut suggested.

“He’s had enough of that for a while to come, I think,” Baze replied, keeping his hands over Bodhi’s. “You’re going to be fine, kid,” he said softly. “We’re going to make sure you’re just fine.”

 

_“Be quiet,” K-2 said, and closed the vault door and muted the comm. Not even a moment later the patrol rounded the corner. K-2 pretended to be busy._

_“Report,” barked one of the stormtroopers._

_“All clear,” K-2 said. “Vault secure.”_

_“Stay here and report any change immediately,” the trooper said, and they rushed on._

_K-2 rolled his eyes and waited for their footsteps to die down before switching the comm back on and opening the vault door. The technician’s body slumped over into the room._

_“K? What’s going on?” Cassian called._

_“Patrol. Did you get the plans?”_

_“We have them,” Jyn said, marching out. “Let’s get them to the transmitter.”_

 

They took turns sitting with him in the medical bay, just sitting, so that he never had to be alone but could still be by himself, if he wanted to. Jyn and Cassian didn’t really look at each other, which Baze thought was dumb and Chirrut thought was hilarious.

“They have to get there on their own, darling,” he would say. “No point in us leading them to water if they won’t drink.”

“Takes one to know one,” Baze had grumbled, and Bodhi had smiled, just a little.

 

_“Walk like you know where you’re going and have every right to be here,” Cassian muttered, more to himself than to Jyn, who glanced over at him in just enough exasperation to calm her nerves just a little. She’d tell him thanks later._

_“We’ll have to thank the general for his perfect distraction once we’re done thanking him for messing up our plan,” K-2 said mildly._

_All around them people were rushing to and fro, trying to make sense of the situation and pretending they knew what they were supposed to do. They didn’t stand out, but then of course no one was going where they were going, and if their friends couldn’t get the message out in time, it might all still be in vain._

 

Baze was the only one who could make Bodhi eat more than a few bites. It was more that everyone else was too distracting, rather than that Baze did anything in particular.

“There is no logical reason for this,” K-2 told Chirrut.

“Dads have an uncanny ability to make their children feel safe,” Chirrut replied, shooting for wisdom and falling a bit short. K-2 made a face. Chirrut knew K-2 was making a face.

“It’s the Force,” Chirrut said.

K-2 walked away.

 

_Baze would never find words to describe what it felt like to watch Chirrut walk out to the master switch, praying to the Force and utterly sure than either it or Baze would save him._

_So Baze would save him._

_He ran out after him, counting on the smoke and debris and the utter idiocy of his other half to distract the death troopers enough to not notice their own death approaching._

_He picked off three before the rest of them rallied and things got a little more dicey. Chirrut was still steadily moving forward, but he was almost at the controls._

_“Frakking hurry up or get some cover!” he bellowed._

_“The Force will not be rushed!” Chirrut replied, and Baze almost shot him himself._

_One of the troopers lobbed a grenade towards the control station and Baze dove forward to grab it and throw it back with only seconds to spare – it blew mid-air instead of helpfully taking some troopers with it._

_“You didn’t even bring your lightbow!” he roared._

_“Melshi had it,” Chirrut said. “Bit of a problem.”_

_“Just flip the switch already!”_

_“Done!” Chirrut reported just as Baze managed to take out the last of them, but reinforcements were not far behind and Baze didn’t think he could run on his shot leg. The armour had taken most of the rest of the hits, but he would be black and blue and Chirrut would not stand still long enough for Baze to check him over._

_Then the Rogue One blew, and Baze ran after all, and prayed._

 

Chirrut found him sitting in a cargo hold, of all things, back to the door and slumped down on one of the crates. He’d taken his armour off.

Chirrut sat down behind him and leaned back, resting his weight against Baze’s broad back. Baze leaned back, just a little.

“We’re going to have to talk about this,” the warrior finally said.

“I know,” Chirrut said.

“Later, though,” Baze said.

“You have quite a few plans for our future, I think,” Chirrut said. “Some cottage in a forest somewhere, with a tiny room for everyone and a giant kitchen and the bare minimum of tech.”

Baze didn’t reply but leaned into him a bit more.

“All your traumatised ducklings safe together where you can keep an eye on them.”

“They’ve never had anyone to take care of them, before. Not really,” Baze said. It felt like a confession, like it had felt the last time he admitted to something he desperately wanted and didn’t think he could have. He figured he was due one more miracle, maybe, now that he had sort of found his faith again.

“They’re going to be fine,” Chirrut said, then paused. “Are we?”

“Are you sorry?”

“Yes and no,” Chirrut said. “I hate what I did to you, but I would do it again.”

Baze didn’t reply for a long time.

 

_Bodhi hurried up the ramp with Stordan right at his heels, clutching the connector. His hands shook so badly he almost couldn’t get it plugged in._

_“Did it work?” Stordan called, taking cover against the side of the ship and shooting outside in short bursts. “Did they do it?”_

_“It’s connecting!” Bodhi shouted back, and felt like crying when General Raddus replied to his hails. “You have to get the shield down! We have the plans but we can’t transmit them to you unless the shield goes down,” he rushed to explain. “Also we’re hoping to make it back out of here, so it would be really great if we could.”_

_He listened intently to the reply and turned to let Stordan know that yes, they’ll do it, they’ll bring the shield down and then Jyn can send the plans and they can fly out of here to pick up their friends on the beach and on the tower and fly out of here and be done with all of this, but the corporal wasn’t looking back at him. He was staring intently at one of the troopers making his way to the ramp of the ship._

_Before Bodhi realised what was happening, Stordan stormed out of the ship and rushed the trooper, roaring, grappling him to the ground. The explosion killed everyone still fighting outside instantly and threw Bodhi back into the bulkhead on the far side of the ship. Barely conscious he could see the fires raging outside, saw the scattered cargo containers and the way the ship around him looked warped and torn, how she lay tilted on her side. Somewhere in the back of his mind someone was screaming._

_He had no idea how long he lay there before footsteps approached the ship and he heard someone pull warped hull plating out of the way to make their way inside. Baze. It was Baze, and Chirrut right behind him. They ran for him, carefully turning him over, feeling for wounds and testing his reactions. Bodhi felt like he was deep under water._

_“We need to get out of here, find a ship that will still get us into space and go get our friends,” Baze told him firmly. “If I get you a ship, can you fly it?”_

_Bodhi tried to reply, but couldn’t get his body to listen to him._

_“For Jyn, and Cassian, and K-2, and for Tonc, can you do it?” Baze said, still firm but also kind. “Can you save us one more time?”_

 

“You know it’s not your fault, right?” Cassian told Bodhi in barely more than a whisper.

“Of course it’s my fault,” Bodhi replied after so long that Cassian didn’t think he still would. “They died for me. After everything I did. And I only did what Galen told me to do. I don’t deserve this. I don’t deserve to live.”

“Bodhi…”

“I don’t really want to,” the pilot whispered, quietly enough that Cassian had to strain to hear and then take a moment for the words to sink in.

“I thought I was going to die when that grenade exploded. For a moment I was relieved. I thought it was over, that I’d done everything I could, that maybe I’d done enough and I could rest, now. But it’s not over, and I don’t deserve to be here. Or maybe I do.”

“Do you think I don’t deserve to be here?” Cassian said, weighing every word carefully on his tongue. “Do you think I should have died?”

“Of course not!” Bodhi gasped, turning to face him, looking at him for the first time in days. “You’re a good person, you’re a hero of the resistance, you’ve been fighting the evil of the empire for years! Of course I don’t think that!”

“I’m not a good person,” Cassian said simply. “I’ve killed people. I’ve made bad decisions that cost lives. I’ve forgotten that the enemy are people, too. I’ve caused more damage than you ever have, Bodhi, and you turned away from everything you knew to do the right thing once someone took the time to teach you there was another way. If you don’t deserve to be alive, then I sure as hell don’t, either. Neither does Jyn. Or Baze.”

Bodhi looked so stricken Cassian almost took it all back. He knew it’d been something of a low blow to drag Jyn and Baze into the argument, but he felt it was necessary to get the point across. He cupped Bodhi’s face gently, willing him to read the urgency and sincerity of his words on his face.

“You deserve to have survived. You deserve to rest. You deserve to find happiness. You deserve to stop fighting and live quietly. You deserve to do whatever you choose to do. Once we get back and get debriefed, we’ll get out, we’ll go far away where the war won’t reach us, and we’ll rest. All of us, together. Is that alright?”

After the days of guilt and apathy fighting over a foothold on Bodhi’s face it was a huge relief to finally see tears filling the pilot’s eyes. He screwed his eyes shut, tears spilling down his face, leaned forward into Cassian’s shoulder, and cried and cried and cried.

 

_When the Lightmaker rammed the Star Destroyer into the shield ring, Jyn was out on the platform realigning the dish and trying not to look down. K-2 and Cassian stood around the control tower, encrypting the files, making some final checks and adjustments, running some more interference on techs who might come up to check what was going on, and making sarcastic comments along the way. It made Jyn not want to throw up with nerves, which was great._

_Then Krennic showed up, because of course._

_He trained his gun on her and she carefully flicked a final switch and made her way back over the catwalk to the tower proper, moving deliberately, trying to keep his full attention on her instead of her friends he’d walked right past in his crazed frenzy to get back at her. Two death troopers came right after him and those probably wouldn’t be so stupid. She tried not to shake, tried not to make a move that would kill her, tried not to make a move that would get Cassian killed, tried not to…_

_“Who do you think you are to come here and think you can get away with it?” Krennic bellowed, half out of his mind._

_“I’m Jyn Erso,” she said, a little too quietly so they would have to strain to hear her, maybe move in a little. He looked like he didn’t believe her, so she pushed, telling him exactly what her father had managed and what she was here to do. As she talked his whole body went rigid with the shock of it and the troopers focused more fully on her, closed in just a little, responding to their commander’s rising distress. It was enough. K-2 and Cassian rounded the tower and shot them all down. Jyn darted in to kick their guns away in case they weren’t quite dead._

_“Time to hit send and get the hell out of here,” Cassian said._

_Bodhi’s voice came crackling over the comms._

_“The shield is down but the Death Star is here! We’re coming to get you now! Stand by to jump!”_

_“Jump?” K-2 said evenly, watching the progress bar as the files uploaded. The absurdity of it was jarring to Jyn. All of this trouble, all of this death, to watch a progress bar to find out if the most important document in the universe was getting transmitted alright. She was shaking badly and vaguely realised she must be in shock._

_Cassian pressed his chest to her back, wrapped his arms around her and rested his chin on her shoulder._

_“You did it,” he said. “And we only almost died about a dozen times, too. Your dad would be proud.”_

_“We did it,” she said. “I couldn’t have done it without you.”_

_She thought he would joke, but instead he just showed her how to slow her breathing and said: “Any time.” She huddled into him and let herself relax, just a little._

_“Done,” K-2 said, just as a banged up U-Wing came to a halt next to the tower’s top platform. The ramp opened up with an unholy screech and they saw their friends inside, at least a dozen of them, still alive, waving for them to run and jump in. Cassian grabbed Jyn’s hand and pulled her along, racing for the edge in a mad dash to get enough speed, K-2 at their heels. Waiting hands grabbed them and pulled them in even as the pilot took off to start his own race towards one of the waiting rebel ships that would take them back to safety._

_They found Baze, Chirrut and Bodhi in one of the seats towards the front and huddled down with them, half expecting to be shot out of the air at any moment. The Death Star was powering up, there were enemy fighters all around them, and someone else was flying their ship. Baze told them they’d made their way down the beach to liberate a U-Wing and Bodhi had flown it to pick up every rebel soldier they managed to find, until they found someone who could take over for him so Baze and Chirrut could tend to his concussion. Jyn and Cassian told them about the vault and the dish and Krennic. Chirrut regaled them with the story of how he threw the master switch while Baze fretted in the background. Baze made sure he ate something to shut him up. They held hands and waited for the end, and were at peace._

 

“I can’t believe you got us an actual cottage in an actual forest,” Chirrut said.

“I figured they owed us,” Baze shrugged.

They’d gone outside to take in their surroundings, to get a sense of the deep calm that pervaded the forest, to let their friends sleep undisturbed three to a bed with Bodhi in the middle and K-2 to watch over them. To try and deal with the thing between them.

“It’s a good place to retire,” Chirrut said some time later, when they’d wandered up a hill that overlooked their new home and was even high enough to show hints of the small rebel encampment on the other side of the valley.

“Yeah?” Baze said. “With no temple to guard or stories of hope and history to tell?”

“There’s always stories to tell,” Chirrut said. They sat down and breathed for a while. “You’ve guarded my temple for all these years,” he finally went on. “I think it’s time I guarded yours.”

Baze looked at him sharply, read his face and his body language as easily as he had been doing for all these years and had never in his life been so happy to be proven wrong if this was his second miracle, if the Force had really granted him this.

They kissed, and kissed. Baze pulled Chirrut into him and let himself roll down, guided Chirrut to lay on top of him, his weight such a comfort; rolled them over so he could cover Chirrut’s whole body with his own and shield him from the world.

“I love you so much,” he stammered.

“I love you, too,” Chirrut smiled.

“I still can’t believe it sometimes,” Baze said, thinking back to the fumbling boy he’d really still been when he first found the courage to pray for a miracle.

Chirrut grinned wide and opened his mouth. “The Force…”

Baze wanted to smother him, so he did it with kisses.

**Author's Note:**

> [Tumblr](%E2%80%9Daeremaee.tumblr.com%E2%80%9D)


End file.
